Big Thighs. Live Long and Prosper

My fav Reggae Tune

Excellent, the BMJ Press Release early this morning tells me I am going to live a long life and be protected against heart disease. It beats looking at the papers who point out that everything I do is related to an early death. I knew there was some value to my large thighs. Professor Berit L Heitmann is a truly excellent man. He must have spent some time measuring women's thighs to come up with this research. Poor man - leading such a difficult life of a researcher. Anyway, it has all paid off because all voluptuous women now love him.

I have often wondered what large thighs could be useful for apart from holding down large GMC files while wearing black tights. In the old days, they used to come in useful while playing a good game of hockey over skinny women who can't orientate their hockey stick. Actually, the trick is just to trip over said hockey stick and run off with the ball.

Right, now to plan out how to preserve said large thighs. Thorntons do have a sale that I must tend to this weekend :).

(1) Large thighs protect against heart disease and early death

(Research: Thigh circumference and risk of heart disease and premature death: cohort study)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.b3292
(EEditorial: Thigh circumference and risk of heart disease and premature death)
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.b3302

Men and women whose thighs are less than 60cm in circumference have a higher risk of premature death and heart disease, according to research published on bmj.com today. The study also concluded that individuals whose thighs are wider than 60cm have no added protective effect.

Lead author, Professor Berit Heitmann, based at Copenhagen University Hospital, says his research may help GPs identify patients who are at an increased risk of early death and developing heart disease.

While several studies have already demonstrated that being either very overweight or underweight are related to premature death and disease, this is the first to investigate the implications of thigh size on health.

Almost 3000 individuals took part in the study in Denmark - this included 1463 men and 1380 women. Participants were examined in 1987/88 for height, weight, thigh, hip and waist circumference and body composition. They were then followed up for 10 years for incidence of heart disease and 12.5 years for total number of deaths.

During the follow-up period 257 men and 155 women died, also 263 men and 140 women experienced cardiovascular disease and 103 men and 34 women suffered from heart disease. When assessing the results, the authors found that the survivors had higher fat-free thigh circumference levels.

The relationship between thigh size and early death and disease was found after taking body fat and other high risk factors (such as smoking and high cholesterol) into account. The authors therefore suggest that the risk from narrow thighs could be associated with too little muscle mass in the region. This is problematic because it may lead to low insulin sensitivity and type 2 diabetes and, in the long run, heart disease, they explain.

The authors conclude that the study "found that the risk of having small thighs was associated with development of cardiovascular morbidity and early mortality. This increased risk was found independent of abdominal and general obesity, lifestyle and cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure and lipids related to early cardio vascular morbidity and mortality".

The authors believe that doctors could use thigh size as an early marker for at risk patients and suggest that individuals increase lower body exercise in order to increase the size of the their thighs if necessary. Further research would be needed, however, to assess whether this approach was worthwhile.

An accompanying editorial supports the need for more research to test the strength of this association.

Contact:
Professor Berit L Heitmann, Research Unit for Dietary Studies at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Email: blh@ipm.regionh.dk